Societal Autopsy: A Foundational Framework for Diagnosing Civilisational Collapse Through River Systems

Toxic Rivers as Societal Autopsy: A Forensic Framework for Environmental Governance This paper introduces the concept of the toxic river as societal autopsy, positioning river degradation as a diagnostic instrument for understanding systemic societal failure. Drawing on biochemical analysis, ecological memory, governance pathology, and cultural diagnostics, the framework demonstrates that river toxicity is not an isolated environmental event but the terminal expression of political decay, infrastructural collapse, economic pressure, and cultural disconnection. Rivers are treated as forensic witnesses that record human behaviour with biochemical, ecological, and infrastructural precision. By interpreting these signatures across multiple layers — biochemical, ecological, governance, regulatory, financial, cultural, and identity — the paper reconstructs the underlying societal conditions that make collapse inevitable. The autopsy model reframes environmental governance as a diagnostic science rather than a compliance exercise. It provides a structured methodology for identifying root causes of river degradation and offers a pathway for designing systemic interventions grounded in identity, stewardship, and long‑term ecological memory. This work establishes rivers as central diagnostic bodies for understanding societal health and forms part of the emerging discipline of Societal Autopsy.